The Vikings’ final joint practice with the Cardinals has concluded a half-hour early on a refreshingly seasonable Minnesota August afternoon, buying Kevin O’Connell a slice of extra time with his family in his office that overlooks the four grass fields where the team just finished training camp.
O’Connell is just 38, the second coach in Vikings history to win a division title in his first season and the only one to coach a playoff game before his 40th birthday. He presided over a 13-win season that included an NFL-record 11 one-score victories, providing near-weekly backdrops for victory speeches about the connectedness that had carried the Vikings through their toughest moments. An NFL Players Association survey of 1,300 current players ranked the Vikings the most player-friendly team in the league, praising the changes during O’Connell’s first season and calling the team “a shining example of what is possible when a concerted investment is made in both staffing and facilities.”